Shotgun
by wolfsrainrules
Summary: Natsume Sawada missed the days where she was an unknown to the male population. Reborn missed those days too. And then it all goes wrong. Well...they're about to find out she's a damn good shot herself. (High School AU-Mafia STILL exists. FEM27/Reborn. No curse.)


**Okay. Just to let y'all know I'm alive: Here's a FEM27REBORN oneshot inspired by Cupid's Got a Shotgun by Carrie Underwood.  
HIGH SCHOOL AU  
I don't own KHR.**

O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

Natsume rolled her eyes at the boy's back.

She kind of missed the years where she was invisible to the male population.

Unfortunately a combination of her body suddenly deciding 'Hey, you know what seems like a good idea? Puberty! Yeah! Let's do it!' and _wham_ suddenly Natsume had to deal with curves and boobs and looks and all the males in the school took notice-all at once- as well as the fact that Natsume had managed to become really good friends with the two most popular and powerful gangs at her school- The Arcobaleno and The Guardians- had set her pretty high on the food chain making her even more of a prize. On top of all of that the Arcobaleno had decided to _train_ her (so she could defend herself from most people) giving her the skills she had lacked, confidence and grace and people had noticed.

It had led to her shooting up the social ladder and she had become _desired_ among the males of her school. Someone confessed their 'undying love' to her on a daily basis and Natsume felt very much like someone had declared 'Open Season' on her person or something.

She had mastered the art of the 'polite decline' but Natsume was getting very sick of this. It had reached the point that even her friends were getting annoyed for her.

Natsume was glad for Reborn. He had thought the attention being paid to her was funny at first, but the first time he had been present for a 'love confession' his opinion had taken a 180 and he now made a point to help her out of some very awkward situations whenever he was able. Natsume had no idea what had caused the opinion change, but she wasn't complaining.

O~O~O~

Reborn was getting sick of all this. He had known Natsume since they were little and he had helped her academically for _years_. He didn't know when or even _how_ it had happened, but at some point Reborn had tripped and tumbled head over heels in love with the girl.

Then she suddenly developed _curves_ and everyone else took notice of her. Reborn was _not happy_. It made him want to shoot people. It had amused him at first when Natsume had come to him complaining about getting confessions every five to ten minutes, but then he had actually _seen_ the damn snotty brats confessing to her and a sudden wave of 'Possessive-Protective-Anger-MINE' had surged up and any amused feelings had died a swift and painful death.

Reborn _knew_ his friends thought it was hilarious, and that Viper was running a betting pool on when he would snap and claim her as _his_. He didn't know the answer to that. All he knew was he was pretty damn close.

O~O~O~

Natsume was in trouble.

She had known her fanboys were…bad…but she had never expected this.

She ran as fast as she could, silently retracting every nasty thing she had ever snarled to herself about Lal's, Colonnello's, and Reborn's training methods, all the while ripping the cell phone Reborn had insisted she have out of a hidden pocket in her school jacket. She pressed and held the 2 on the phone as she ran without looking, dodging bullets.

"Natsume?"

Natsume breathed a relieved sigh before telling him in a rushed, frightened voice "  
Reborn! Reborn I need your help, he has a gun and he's trying to _kill_ me!" As if to reinforce what she was saying the sound of gunfire echoed through the air. She flinched even as her body reacted, instinctively dodging as the Arcobaleno had trained her to do.

Natsume had known Reborn since they were five. She could hear the silent worry-rage-worry-demand in the snapped "Where are you?"

Natsume wanted to scream, but she answered "I don't know! I don't know they knocked me out and took me somewhere and I just woke up and got out and _I don't know where I am_."

A soft string of Italian curses flowed over the line followed by a sharp worried-angry-demand-command of "Keep moving Natsume. Don't get hurt" and then directed away from her "Verde! I need you to track Natsume's phone and I need it _now!_"

She could vaguely hear Verde in the background "Natsume's phone? Why?" and then Reborn's snapped and angry reply.

"I don't have time! They took her and they are _shooting at her_."

Natsume didn't know it was possible to hear rage through a phone, but she could hear Verde's rage. She drew in quick breaths as she ran trying to figure out where she was and not get killed all at the same time.

"_Natsume! _Where are you going?"

Natsume didn't waste time looking over her shoulder at the boy who had kidnapped her, and upon being told no had decided _no one_ could have her. She kept her eyes forward and the rest of her senses focused for danger. She was so busy listening for gunfire, and trying to figure out where she was or how to get out, that she didn't realize what was happening until it was too late and she was already too close. "Reborn…please, _please_ tell me you're close."

Rage-desperation-worry and the first hint of actual panic as Reborn snapped "Why Natsume? What happened?"

Natsume hissed her answer, angry they had managed it at all "They _herded _me."

"SON OF A BITCH!"

Natsume had a silent moment of panic before she whispered "Sorry Reborn." And she shut her phone ignoring the snapped command of 'Don't you dare hand up on me Natsume!'

She shoved the phone back into the hidden pocket of her jacket. She was going to need both hands. As soon as her hands were free she shot forward. The two seconds it took her to knock out the first two boys in reach were over before anyone realized she had moved.

The next four seconds involved some very creative use of Natsume's flexibility, broken bones, gunshots, a knife, and a lot of cursing.

Natsume flowed like water her panic fading as her many, many hours of training under the Arcobaleno took over. She was best friends with the World's Greatest Hit Man, and the Underworld's finest and they had trained her to survive more than obsessed fan boys.

She could do this.

Sidestep, spin, roundhouse kick, fast jab, back step, back step, backbend, high kick.

Natsume remained calm and composed keeping her cool despite the ringing of gunshots each and every one of them aiming to kill her.

She had a vague thought that she should be more worried, especially as she started gathering grazes and bleeding, but all she felt was a burning resolve lined in steel. She _would_ get through this. There was no other option. Too many people depended on her. Her dying on them would be like their sky disappearing forever.

O~O~O~

Reborn was not a person used to panic or fear. He did not like these emotions, particularly because the only time he seemed to feel them it was because Natsume was involved in some death defying stunt or another. Like the time she got in a fight with the Varia boss, or the time she got tangled up with Mukuro, and then there was the Byakuran Incident.

Either way Reborn loathed it.

_Especially_ when he had no way of knowing what was happening. "Verde!" he snapped Verde's name like a command.

"I've almost got her. We've got to head north."

Reborn didn't wait to hear anymore. He snapped the command "Call me and give me directions as you get them!" He took the Bluetooth device Verde held out and slipped it into his ear before running for the fastest car he could find. Fon, Skull, Lal, and Colonnello were right behind him diving into the car as Reborn opened the visor to snatch the falling keys and jammed them into the ignition before flooring it. Verde and Viper were staying behind to work the computers and feed Reborn information.

Reborn broke every traffic law from A to Z and almost hit a few people, but no one really cared. He even drove _through_ a wall that was in his way when Verde told him to turn left where no left existed.

O~O~O~

Natsume had gotten ahold of a few guns from some of the boys she had taken down and was now hunkered down inside a warehouse behind some stacked crates stuck in what amounted to an old-fashion standoff shootout.

She had quite a few bullet grazes on both arms, a bullet wound on her right thigh (she thought it was a through and through), and three knife wounds on her ribs (a shallow slice), through her eyebrow (shallow slice) and in her right shoulder (stab wound- the knife was still in). She was getting a little dizzy by this point and only her training was keeping her moving at this point- well, her training and the idea of what Reborn and the others would do to her if she died.

"Natsume-chan! You're not being very nice you know. I'll make you a deal. If you come out right now, I'll kill you quick! You can't hide forever! I'll bet you're almost out of bullets too, huh? So why not make it easy on yourself?"

Natsume sneered.

Reborn had taught her a lot of things, but one thing he had made _sure_ of was that Natsume would never give up and stop fighting. This son of a bitch might have her pinned, may have her in his sights, might have put a red dot on her chest, but he was about to find out she was a _damn_ good shot herself.

Natsume glanced around her crates and had to quickly duck behind them again as wood splintered under fire. She took a chance and quickly lunge-rolled for the pillar of stone on her left. She managed to land behind its protection without any extra injuries and quickly peeked around to fire her gun twice. She couldn't quite hide her smirk as she heard twin yells of pain. (She was hanging around too many Mafia members. They were rubbing off.)

It would be Natsume's luck that the insane fanboy she turned down would be head of a gang with rather large numbers that specialized in combat. A fanboy who brought her into a collection of warehouses that held a large assortment of combat weapons ranging from throwing knifes to guns.

She never did get the easy problems.

Natsume ignored the way her right leg trembled under her weight, protesting its treatment loudly. She didn't have the time or option to stop and treat it, so her leg would just have to deal with it. (Seriously. Too much time. She was _lecturing her leg_ for trying to give out on her in a firefight.)

O~O~O~

Reborn had never been so glad to hear he had arrived somewhere. "Okay. Turn right and the warehouse she's in should be right in front of you." Verde had multitasked: locating Natsume through his personally designed cell phone while he wiped any evidence of Reborn's car passing through the city and breaking every traffic law under the sun. Since he had outrun the cops and Verde had gotten rid of any electronic evidence he shouldn't have any problems.

Reborn literally drifted the car into a stop outside of the warehouse and jumped out of the car without turning it off, all his passengers following behind him. "Verde?"

"I've got 26 bodies inside all between you and Natsume. Considering the positions Natsume is on the far side of the warehouse, you need to work your way through to her. Everyone seems to be facing away from you so you should be able to slip inside and get to cover before acting."

Reborn nodded knowing Verde could probably see him as he moved forward, Fon, Skull, Lal, Colonnello and himself all slipping inside the open door to the warehouse before systematically tearing their way through the 26 bodies between them and their girl. Fon and Skull dropped their guns almost immediately to get up close and personal- both being better at hand-to-hand combat anyway and they wanted to hurt the people that hurt Natsume.

It took the five of them two minutes to tear their way through the enemy and reach Natsume.

She smiled brightly at them. "I'm really glad to see you guys." She breathed the greeting swaying on her feet. Reborn's hands snapped forward to catch her as the adrenaline began to fade and her legs gave beneath her as they had been trying to do earlier.

Reborn was kneeling on the stone floor holding Natsume's body up as he snapped "You no-good idiot! What were you thinking getting hurt?! Your training is going to _triple_ after this!"

Natsume laughed breathlessly, her vision spotting with black as she answered "Sounds nice. I'll never complain again…and Reborn?"

"What?"

"Sorry for making you worry."

Reborn's scowl softened a little as he growled "No good idiot."

And Natsume grinned. She had made herself a promise hiding behind that stone pillar, bleeding, out of ammo, and being shot at. She had promised herself that if she got out of it, she'd kiss Reborn. This life-or-death situation had put things in perspective for her. The reason none of those boys had interested her was because the one that _did_ had been standing beside her all along. The black in her vision was beginning to spread, but she thought it was time to keep that promise.

She lifted her left arm, mindful of her knife induced injury, and buried it into thick silky black spikes, knocking the fedora she had gotten Reborn on his sixteenth birthday off his head. Reborn's eyes widened as he opened his mouth asking "Natsume? Wha-" mid-question Natsume pulled him the last few inches to her face and kissed him soft and hesitant before she pulled away with a smile. She left Reborn with the very rare look of dazed confusion before she finally allowed herself to pass out.

O~O~O~

The next time Natsume opened her eyes she was inside Verde's Medical Lab and Reborn was sitting at her side.

She quickly reached over for the water sitting on the end table and only after drinking her fill did she call "Reborn?"

His closed eyes snapped open and he stared at her silently for a minute before speaking "Everyone but you and I owe Viper a sizable amount of money seeing as he was the only one to bet you would make the first move."

Natsume wasn't sure how she was blushing after losing the blood she did, but she was managing quite well as she lowered her gaze to her hands.

Since she looked down Natsume didn't see Reborn move to her side and lean in close until he spoke inches away from her face "I believe I owe you one Natsume." Her eyes snapped up just in time for him to press his lips to hers in a hard-demanding-claiming but somehow still gentle- mindful of her still healing wounds- kiss.

It was Natsume's turn to be left dazed as Reborn pulled back a proud smirk whispering "I always repay my debts."


End file.
